"We think (Theron) will be in the film. And Judi Dench is definitely in the film and there we are," Eastwood told Sandwich John Films, while working his way down the red carpet of the California Hall of Fame inductions.

Dench's role in the film, "J. Edgar," remains unclear, but Theron would play Helen Gandy, the young woman Hoover handpicked to be his secretary, a job she held for 54 years.

The cast already includes Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role, with Armie Hammer likely to play Hoover's special friend, Clyde Tolson. And Damon Herriman, whom you may recognize from his role on "Justified," recently signed on to play Bruno Hauptmann, the German ex-con who was originally convicted in the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby. Doubts about how Hauptmann's case was handled inspired Hoover to launch an investigation into his case.

"Shutter Island"

The latest Leonardo DiCaprio-Martin Scorsese collaboration is based on the novel by Dennis Lehane about a cop sent to find an inmate who's mysteriously disappeared from an asylum.